West Yellowstone celebrates Earth Day

WEST YELLOWSTONE – Yellowstone National Park’s west entrance opens to vehicles on Friday, April 26. As part of the National Parks Week celebration, there will be no admission charge that day.

April 26 also marks the start of the fourth annual Earth Day Celebration in West Yellowstone, featuring family-friendly activities all weekend.

The Earth Day Celebration is from 6 – 9 p.m. on Friday at the Holiday Inn and includes the West Yellowstone school science fair exhibits, vendor booths and free snacks, as well as presentations on the 30th Anniversary of the Lee Metcalf Wilderness Area by the Forest Service and on a Bear Safe Community Project by the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery.

The Earth Day Fair will be Saturday from 9 a.m – 1 p.m., also at the Holiday Inn. Activities will include learning about the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem’s birds of prey and bear-safe garbage containers; making crafts from recycled materials; face painting; and movie shorts and cartoons.

A Campfire Ranger Talk from 5 – 7 p.m. on Saturday at the Rendezvous Ski Trailhead will include hot chocolate, s’mores and a sing-along. A grill will be available for those wanting to cook dinner; ketchup, mustard, and chips will also be provided.

The Three Bear Lodge, 2009 winner of the Eco Star Award, is offering tours on Saturday, demonstrating its award-winning sustainable building practices used to construct the new lodge.

Get outdoors on Sunday with either a ranger snowshoe hike or walk, depending on the amount of snow on the Boundary Trail. Call the Hebgen Lake Ranger District at (406) 823-6961 or Earth Day Committee at (406) 640-0069 for more information.

Earth Day films will be shown all weekend, including two kid-friendly movies on Saturday. The Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center will also feature its “Keeper Kids” program throughout the weekend, giving kids a chance to learn more about grizzly bears from a naturalist, and then hide food for the bears in the enclosure while the bears take a break inside. For more information contact Trent at the GWDC at (406) 646-7001.
For a complete schedule of events, visit kidsnsnow.org/earthday.html